Streamlined Town Meeting plods through budget

WAREHAM — Town Meeting employed new procedures to speed voting when it convened in the Wareham High School auditorium Monday night.

JENNIFER LADE

WAREHAM — Town Meeting employed new procedures to speed voting when it convened in the Wareham High School auditorium Monday night.

Nevertheless, voters were only able to get through 19 of the 60 articles on the warrant.

The first 1½ hours of the meeting was used for calling it to order, counting the 256 voters and explaining new procedures for this Town Meeting.

Town Moderator John Donahue introduced the idea of the consent calendar, in which 25 articles would be voted on in one motion with no debate.

"This procedure is frequently used in probably most communities in Massachusetts. And I hope that this will become a tradition in the town of Wareham," he said.

Of the articles placed on the list, eight were taken off at the request of the Finance Committee or because at least seven voters indicated that they wanted it off the list.

Four articles were placed on a negative consent agenda and were voted for further study in one motion.

An article on the town's $45,828,836 budget took up a majority of the remaining time at Town Meeting. Interim Town Administrator John Sanguinet told voters that local receipts continued to slow throughout fiscal 2009 and, in February, state aid was cut by about $294,000.

For fiscal 2010, receipts are estimated to be $322,000 less than in fiscal 2009, Sanguinet said. Because the debt on the high school has been paid off, $1.17 million was freed up to be used to supplement the operating budget, fund an increase in the Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical High School budget, reduce the snow and ice deficit, and fund other costs.

Certain sections of the budget received a good amount of attention and debate. Geoff Swett, a member of the School Committee, presented amendments to the budget, "all of them designed to increase the dollars in the reserve fund," he said.

The first amendment, which would have taken $50,000 in wages from the selectmen's office and added to the reserve fund, failed in an 87-146 vote. Swett said the reduction would not have caused anyone to be laid off. Selectmen agreed but said the department has to hire personnel to assist the interim town administrator, who is swamped with work.

Swett's second amendment would have subtracted $100,000 in legal services and add to the reserve fund. That would leave $150,000 in the legal budget, about $100,000 less than the actual legal costs in fiscal 2008. The amendment failed in a voice vote.

Several voters rose to speak about the legal budget issue, questioning the nature of legal costs and asking how the town compares to others in the state. Resident Bob Brady said other services in town are suffering because of the legal expenses.

"We need to get a better handle on when we make decisions, how we make decisions," he said.

Selectmen Chairman Bruce Sauvageau said at least a third of the legal costs went to land use issues, and several committees in town were subject to litigation.

"When we get sued, we get sued," Sauvageau said, "and it's not as if we can ignore it and just say, 'We will cap legal.'"

The Finance Committee is studying legal costs and has preliminary information about how the costs are broken out, Finance Committee member Marilyn Donahue said.

The $45,828,836 budget was approved and Town Meeting recessed for the night. It will resume at 7 tonight.